Thursday, June 28, 2012

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings. To enter to win Angela Moulton's painting "Chickadee with Blossoms, No. 2," go to DailyPaintworks.com and click on the Spotlight Giveaway button in the top-left corner of the website.

From Angela Moulton's DPW gallery:

Angela Moulton has been a professional artist for nine years. She specializes in oil painting and is inspired and paints still lifes, nature, animals, children, interiors and landscapes. Angela splits her time between Illinois and Idaho.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I’ve always been extremely creative. I was raised in a home where creativity was encouraged. My father is an engineer and physiologist and my mother a designer. We always had a lot of stuff at our house - stuff for building forts, making art, decorating cakes, sewing, wood projects, science experiments, etc. I was the oldest of five and would involve my siblings and the neighborhood children in my creative endeavors.

I had worked in the world of banking and finance throughout my adult life. In 2004, my sister told me about a lady selling her turtle’s paintings on eBay. I thought to myself, “If a turtle can sell paintings, then I certainly should be able to!”

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

Like many things in childhood, the paints got put away after high school. But I’ve been painting almost daily since 2004.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have “stuck” and which ones have fallen away? Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I’ve experimented with acrylics, pastel, and oil paints. Also with graphite, charcoal, and ink. Oil painting is my specialty. I occasionally work with acrylics and still use graphite and ink for sketching.

I enjoy pastel immensely. I don’t see myself tiring of oils. But if I did, pastel would probably be my second choice medium. I prefer sketching in ink. I like the boldness, contrast, and permanence.

As far as genres, I paint mostly alla prima (wet on wet) and prefer still life, birds, and the figure. I sometimes paint landscapes. I’ve dabbled in abstract art and am inspired by many artists in this genre. I sometimes blur the lines between abstraction and real images in painting.

There’s such joy and whimsy in your strokes, which manage to be both strong, yet light-handed. What can you tell us about how you developed your particular style?

If you asked my husband, he would say my style completely fits my personality. I am not a fussy person and I move with confidence and sometimes boldness through life. On a more technical note, I plan a lot. I sometimes spend 90% of the painting process in the planning and prepping phase - sketching, mixing paints, and experimenting.

What does procrastination look like for you? What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

First, procrastination looks like too much time spent online. It’s really a big time waster. Having an online business, I have to be online. I have a timer I keep on my shelf. It’s one of those $3 ones you just turn. I use my timer whenever I need to set a time limit.

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Second, I have to set aside blocks of time for art. I can’t stop and start every 15 minutes. I use gloves, and painting clothes, smocks, painting pants, etc… I cannot switch back and forth between my paint time and the rest of my life without wasting a ton of time. I don’t answer the phone during this time unless it’s one of my family or a major business contact.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

My paintings are inspired by something I see or do, by feelings, memories, and photos from magazines, books, and art. I love going to art galleries and museums.

How do you keep your art “fresh”? What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I try to mix things up often. If I get stuck in a rut, I just break out. I paint something entirely different. I aim to have my paintings not look alike. Personally, I can’t imagine ever getting tired of oil paints. But I am not above abandoning it for something else entirely – say collage or sculpture or even music – rather than burn out or get stuck in a rut. I would even go as far to say I would give up art entirely, at least for a while, rather than stay in a rut.

I think my attitude keeps me away from burnout. Knowing I can and would quit, if I felt I should, actually prevents me from burnout – in an ironic sort of way.

On a less dramatic note, a new color tube of paint would probably do the trick.

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

The daily painting format is so important. I study a lot. But without practice, nothing gets better! Right now, my practice includes color experimentation, drafting skills – animals and birds, the figure, the portrait, architecture, and improving compositions.

What makes me happiest is the freedom and individuality I access via my art. I used to work the financial markets hours, which aren’t bad. But with three children and two homes at opposite ends of the country (a ranch and city house), I have intentionally become an artist.

One day I asked myself what career would make me happy. I realized that art fit my life, and that I had life to give to the practice of art.

I took a few watercolor classes and workshops with wonderful artists when I started painting in 2009, but I am mainly a self-taught artist. I just love the whole process of research, study and practice and enjoy painting the essence of nature - it seems to soothe something in my soul.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

It was somewhat by accident - painting never actually crossed my mind as something I would do. All my life I've had a passion for textiles; I spent about 15 years designing and creating high-end bridal, formal and career wear for personal clients. Anything to do with fibers, I loved, and was always looking for interesting finds to create with.

About 3 years ago, I stopped into an art store looking for some project supplies, noticed a cute little watercolor kit and on the spur of the moment, picked it up. I thought, no problem, I can just knock out a couple sketches and paint them. Well, I didn't get the result I wanted, kept trying, but just didn't understand these paints.

I needed help and luckily I found it in the way of a watercolor class at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I had a great instructor who really taught the basics and learned a great deal about the properties of watercolor pigments and water. Several light bulbs went off for me, one after another, during that 14-week course and I was hooked. I also quickly realized the importance of using only high quality paints, papers and supplies and use all archival materials.

I took a couple more classes and workshops before continuing to study and practice on my own.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

Well, as I'm a late starter, I haven't had any stops yet. I enjoy the learning and painting practice so much, I hope to continue this journey for the rest of my life. Some days I wish there were three of me so I could do more painting.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away? Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

Charcoal and graphite, of course, because I've been sketching off and on since I was a child. With painting mediums, I've explored several to find out what is right for me: watercolor, acrylic, pastel and most recently oil. My favorites are watercolor, oil and pastel.

Because I'm a bit of a late starter though, I know I need to narrow my focus in order to continue to improve my work. I think for the next while at least, I've determined a direction and my mediums of choice will be to work in watercolor and oil. I'm looking forward to exploring landscape and still life in oils - working in a painterly style. One of the oil painters I admire right now is Bob Rohm, he does gorgeous landscapes and makes it all look so easy, but we all know it's hard work and practice and lots of trial and error. Right now, I'm trying out different supports and brushes to figure out what will be best for me as I develop my own style.

I'm very attracted to the luminosity that can be achieved with watercolor, so I want to continue to explore floral, foliage and maybe some ordinary urban subjects. I never seem to tire of flowers. Some people don't really have a lot of respect for floral painters. I'm not sure why, because flowers (especially if you focus closer in) are such wondrous and complicated natural treasures and NOT at all EASY to paint. Even for the artists who portray them in a more abstract style, it takes observance, practice and skill. So, I will persist with flowers, along with the fabulous foliage in abundance on these Hawaiian Islands.

I have many wonderful soft pastels, but I've put them away for a while so I can focus on watercolors and oils. Down the road I'll try the pastels again.

Your floral paintings capture such a fine level of detail that I'm not even sure how you can see what you do, much less recapture it on canvas or paper! What can you tell us about your particular painting process?

The florals may look like I work in a lot of detail, but truly, I do less and less of the fine detail as I move forward. I'm also near-sighted and usually paint without my glasses on, so I don't focus on details. I do love flowers - they provide so much inspiration to me, but once I have the paper and paints in front of me, I don't really see what I paint as a flower anymore.

Regardless, if I paint from life or from photo resources I am looking for the light first and then the shapes. I try to show those with color. I think my past experience with fabrics has taught me so much about color, that part seems to just come to me without even thinking. When I paint the flowers now, I challenge myself - get as much color down in one passage. It truly is a challenge because when you lay it down, it can look so dark, but watercolor lightens quite a bit when dry, so it takes a bit of chutzpah to use lots of paint. I try to go back in only for the shadow shapes and follow up with the background and maybe a tiny bit of detail at the center of interest.

When I'm finished, many times I'm surprised, hey, it does look like a flower. This way of painting has taken a lot of practice and I really do toss out some unredeemable pieces. I'm also trying to loosen up, but I still want the paintings to look like flowers, mainly because I tend to focus in on them individually or in very small groupings, rather than painting a bouquet with a profusion of flowers, where they can be done in a very painterly way.

What does procrastination look like for you? What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

I've learned to use a day-timer. I'm sure like many others who try to take on too much responsibility for everything and everyone around them, eventually you realize you are not indispensable and your husband and or family can take on some of the chores. I try to paint at least 5 days a week now. I schedule my sketching, painting and photography times and try very hard to stick to it.

Most of the reading I do lately is also art related. The other time thief for me is the internet. Its great to have so much information at my fingertips, but I limit my computer time too, I really want to paint. I think I'm lucky that I can and better take advantage of my abilities while I have them.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

I used to dream ideas, but lately I have had some good ideas while in the shower and actually jumped out to write them down. I'm working on a few full sheet watercolor paintings from those shower ideas. I try to spend as much time outside as I can too, walking the dog, going to the parks and beaches and can't help seeing great things to paint all the time. There is so much beauty here, I don't think I'll ever run out of painting ideas.

How do you keep art "fresh"? What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

For me, I realized that if I decided to only focus on what may be considered highly marketable work, the quality I am after just will not come. If I painted on demand the love for it would go. I need to really enjoy whatever subject or idea I paint to have any hope of creating something I'm proud of. I do commissions as long as I'm interested in the subject.

Sometimes how we see things changes when you are so focused on the visual and what you may have just walked on by in the past suddenly becomes fascinating. That keeps me on my toes and constantly interested in ideas that may become a painting.

I think I am learning to trust myself more. Not every painting works out, but you learn something from each attempt and grow from it. You take a step with each day and with each painting and learn to adjust your goals a little higher as you continue to progress. Paint what you love. Keep learning for the rest of your life.

What makes you happiest about your art?

I think the two things that make me the happiest are when I open my paintbox and see all those wonderful colors and how I can try to make them sing -- and when someone falls in love with one of my paintings and just has to have it. It is a great feeling to know you have touched someone with your work.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings. To enter to win Sue Deutscher's painting, Whippet and His Dog, go to DailyPaintworks.com and click on the Spotlight Giveaway button in the top-left corner of the website.

I find beauty and inspiration in the relationship between the pet and their owner. I've painted portraits of pets who have passed on and they are the most meaningful to the owner--and to me, as the artist. The portraits of pets who are still with us will be a permanent keepsake of the love that is shared. My paintings are like my children who, when set free, go on to live their own lives, and hopefully in homes where they are loved.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

When I was 27, I was walking past a hardware store that had a sign that said if painting supplies were bought there, they would include a free painting class, which was about to begin. I had the afternoon free, so I did just that and found my passion that day. The smell of the oil paint and holding the brush in my hand all felt very natural, as if I had done it all my life. That was 30 years ago, and it is still as exciting to me today as it was then.

A few years ago, I felt like I had reached a level where I just wasn't getting any better. I felt frustrated with painting, and was drawn to photography. I learned much about light and when, after a couple of years, I painted again, I found that a lot of what I had learned in photography applied to painting. I learned how much colors affect each other and how important it is to have one color "pop." I also learned more about composition. It was great!

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away? Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I have tried acrylic and worked quite a bit with pastels, but my favorite is oil. They all have their good evil twin sides, but for me, mixing oil colors is magical; the way blue and yellow combines to make green or the way adding green to red decreases saturation, without losing value. Though I don't like the mess and having to clean brushes, etc., mixing colors is a thrill.

I don't feel drawn to exploring anything else right now, but you never know. I trust my instinct and if I'm drawn to something else, as when I was drawn to photography, then that is what I will do.

The lush darks and crisp lights of many of your paintings are reminiscent of the old, classical masters. Can you tell us more about how you developed your personal style?

What a wonderful compliment! Thank you! I love the mystery of chiaroscuro and for that, Rembrandt is my favorite. There are many on Daily Paintworks who could give Rembrandt a good run! I don't like too many colors on my palette, and prefer a tonalistic theme, so that it is harmonious throughout. I like to go with just the primaries and mix tertiaries. So my personal style would probably be called "keeping it simple."

I appreciate the phrase, "less is more," letting the viewer be more of a participant, rather than a spectator. I developed my style by studying other paintings and trying to emulate the realism, light and subjects that I like.

What does procrastination look like for you? What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

Procrastination looks like boredom to me. If I am avoiding painting, it must be because what I am working on is boring me. I should either finish it or call it a lost cause and move on to something else.

When I get lost in the painting and lose track of time, stop hearing anything around me, ignore any hunger pains and forget that I put a pot of coffee on, there is no procrastinating or having to "make time" for art. It is an obsession.

I'm always looking at light, especially early in the morning or late in the evening when everything has that golden glow. I like to grab my camera and get that low angle sun falling on a sleeping cat or illuminating just the tip of a bowl of apples. Sometimes it seems like the subject is just an excuse to paint the light, and it doesn't even matter what the subject is. What is most exciting is dramatic shadows and highlights, but still being subtle about it.

How do you keep art "fresh"? What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I try to paint a balance of what I think will sell and what I like to paint. Sometimes I give more one way than the other, and when I've been painting what I think will sell, I go the other way and just paint what I like.

I love painting animals, but I also like still lifes. When painting another dog or horse doesn't get me excited to paint, then I go for a still life, just for me. I may never list it or show it, but it's like a day off just to play.

I imagine someone with a big, new home, walls blank, and how they want real art to look at and love every day, something that is meaningful and moves them emotionally. I offer prints, but I once heard that owning original art is like having a real apple pie, rather than a picture of a pie. Original art is rich and vibrant, and with the internet today and self-representing artists, people can afford the original instead of a "picture of the original." When the artist and art lover make that connection, it is completing the circle. What I am learning right now is how to complete that circle, which, to me, is what makes a piece "finished."

I would also love to paint an apple that looks like an apple rather than a tomato, which is what is on my easel right now. Needs more green, I think.

What makes you happiest about your art?

My art makes me happy when it goes to someone who really, really loves it. I would rather take less for a painting and have it go to someone who is thrilled to have it than not. It seems for every painting, there is someone who will love it, and my job is to find that person. You're out there, somewhere.

A painting is exciting for me when it tells a little story, or when the light is falling just right to make a delicate flower petal come out of a shadow, or it shows the calm expression of a sleeping dog next to a pair of hiking boots. When the viewer feels that same excitement, it makes a connection and I am happiest about that. I can feel when a painting "clicks" and having a complete stranger take a chance based on a jpg on their computer screen and order the painting, it's always a thrill.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.To enter to win Julie Ford Oliver's painting, Doorway to Memories, go to DailyPaintworks.com and click on the Spotlight Giveaway button in the top-left corner of the website.

I was born in England and received a classical art education before coming to America. Working as an illustrator for the next 28 years provided the opportunity to work in many different styles and media. One of the most satisfying aspects of being a painter is the freedom it offers, allowing the imagination to delete, change and improvise.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

My earliest memory as a 3-4 year old child in England was choosing to color paper doilies, instead of joining the family to play games. As the years passed, this never changed. We would all be in the same room - they would be playing cards - and I would be drawing or painting. I didn't realize it at the time, but my mother and father taught me to be very observant by continually playing"I Spy" on our frequent walks. Later, I would paint what I had observed from my memory. Still do it to this day.

Most women will answer this with a resounding YES! Family means disruptions, but for me, family has been worth it. I was also lucky enough to work for a large agency which would mail me illustration assignments, because my husband moved a lot with his job.

Later, I had a five year period of helping my husband in his business and I didn't paint at all (for the first time in my life). I got depressed and the doctor wrote a prescription with a single word on it: PAINT! That is when I started my fine art career.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away? Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I have tried most medias. I am happy doing anything art related. Put a brush in my hand and I am a happy gal! My all time favorite was using egg tempera, because the process was absorbing and the completed painting, with its many layers, resulted in a harmony of coloration unlike any other media. Unfortunately, the floaters in my eyes started to increasingly make the detail work more difficult, so now I get my love of egg tempera satisfied by teaching it to some very talented artists. I notice some of the same layering techniques I loved in ET come through in my oil painting.

You do such a fantastic job of creating realism with extremely loose, but colorful brush strokes. Any insights into how you developed this skill?

I think good drawing is the foundation for realism and I had that drilled into me in art school. BUT - I had to re-learn color. By nature I am a tonalist... I come from the foggy shores of England! Living in the fabulous Southwest opened my eyes to color. I paint plein air and seeing colors with no moisture to "blue them down" was a learning curve I had to climb. I do believe pushing color can be taught. Funnily enough, I am still attracted to the gentle variations of layers of misty, blue/green hills receding in space.

The Skill? The loose method of painting was a skill I set out deliberately to acquire. I noticed when I was outside painting fast to capture the essence before the light changed, my work was more flowing, so I started to set the timer for my still life paintings. I would give myself 20 minutes at a time, stop, evaluate and set the timer again. It really worked, but not overnight.

What does procrastination look like for you? What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

I procrastinate about a lot of things, but never my work. I have to be sick to procrastinate about that. I admit to getting rather grumpy when I have to take care of other necessary disruptions to my painting time. That is when my husband asks, "Aren't you going to the studio, dear?" He knows a Studio Julie is a Happy Julie.

What works for me? I find that calling my studio time "work," never, painting time. I did the same for my illustration career, but once I started working out of my home everyone had demands on me. I came up with a plan which worked great. I would dress dress for work, say goodby to everyone and I would go out of the front door... then walk round to the back and let myself in. The kids and husband got the point and never interrupted my working time. I have found that a lot of people presume when you "paint" that you can do lunch or shopping, you know, the fun things they would never ask you to do during the day if you worked in a, quote, "proper job!"

Also, I teach 26 artists at the Guild so that is a great organizer of time, all on its own.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

Usually in bed during that lovely time when you are half asleep, drifting towards opening your eyes... I say my prayers and go through my list of people needing help, and then I start deciding what I feel like painting. I actually get excited and look forward to this routine. I have a very visual memory and can mentally create a painting, adding and removing objects until I'm satisfied.

I also have a notebook I jot ideas down in. I am a big believer in thumbnail drawings to explore design and concept. I will walk pass something and the color or placement will attract my eye. I recently did some tin cans, lemons and a red colander which had caught my attention when they were waiting to be put away.

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

For many years I have had this vision of a style - how I wanted my paintings to look - but could only achieve it in little areas. It was only when I went to painting every day that I started to see it taking form. Even then it was difficult to do, as the pressure of producing a painting on top of teaching and commissions rattled my insecurity cage. I would record when it happened and try to understand why it wouldn't work other times. I named it Fracturing.

It is a technique I am still developing and I started to explore it in the classes I teach. Bit by bit, all the guild artists have seen the development and have been very encouraging. All of a sudden in the last month or so, it has been flowing quite naturally and the areas I am having problems with are fewer and fewer. The response from other artists in the blogging world has been very encouraging... some have been enthusiastically articulate in support of it.

It is very exciting for me to develop something I have not seen done in quite the same way.

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

You mean besides the computer work necessary in this blogging world? That has been difficult and I have to thank my wonderful daughter for her help in that area.

Fracturing, fracturing, fracturing. This is the technique that has been evolving in my work over a long period of time. Now, it is constantly occupying my mind and hand.

I think artists are lucky because painting is an ongoing, lifelong learning experience. We are all students in that regard, for our entire art lives.